Our Maha Samadhi week is over and this phase is Skanda Shashti week… a few pilgrims are staying on… a few of the monks are fasting and the atmosphere at the Aadheenam is very inner and serene…

Meanwhile, Bodhinatha is in New Delhi and our correspondent, Rajiv Malik sends this news release on the events there:

Akshardham Temple In Delhi,
Creatively Combines The Traditional
With The Best Of Modern Technology

Rajiv Malik,
New Delhi. November 3rd, 2005.

“Akshardham Temple in Delhi certainly fulfills in an excellent way the goal of creatively combining traditional stone art and architecture, Indian culture and civilization, ancient values and wisdom and the best of modern media and technology. Certainly in the decades to come, the tens of thousands of visitors who pass through these facilities each year will experience a great pride for India and its rich, inspiring culture and heritage, as well as deepen their understanding of that culture and heritage through Akshardham’s traditional monument, experiential exhibitions, IMAX theatre, research centre and contemplative gardens”. These views were expressed by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami Ji Maharaj, Head of Kauai’s Hindu Monastry and Chief Publisher of Hinduism Today Magazine while addressing thousands of devotees of Swaminarayan Organization who have flocked here from all over the world and had gathered to listen to him, in a huge hi-tech auditorium just adjacent to the newly constructed Akshardham Temple that has come up on the outskirts of Delhi. Satguru Bodhinatha was the Chief Guest at today’s function which was a part of around two weeks inaugural festival related to the temple launching that has been going on with great fanfare. Today’s was the concluding function and it was presided over by His Holiness Pramukh Swami Ji Maharaj, who heads Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). Earlier a group of Swaminarayan saints took Satguru Bodhinatha and his entourage on a whirlwind tour of the whole temple complex which is situated in around 100 acres of land and has been constructed with the help of over 7000 craftsmen in around five years time.

Satguru Bodhinatha and his team were specially honoured at this function and they received a standing ovation from the gathering here when they came to know that they had travelled 25 hours just to attend today’s function in New Delhi.

Even the rain gods seemed to be blessing today’s function as it started raining, the moment Satguru began his speech. The whole audience burst into laughter when Satguru Bodhinatha said that perhaps the Hawaii weather was following him in New Delhi as well. He went on to say in a lighter vein that there was no need to worry about the heavy downpour as in Hawaii whenever it rains for some time the weather becomes even more pleasant. To the amazement of the gathering the rain had stopped by the time his speech was over and weather became extremely cool and pleasant. Sharing his relationship with BAPS Satguru had this to say- “Our association with BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha began some ten years ago in 1995 when our founder and guru, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known as Gurudeva, attended the 75th Jayanthi of His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj in Mumbai. Also at that time he visited Akshardam in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and the monastic training center in Sarangpur.” He went on to say, ” At Sarangpur Gurudeva was quite impressed by the strict life the young sadhus there were living–sleeping on the floor, eating only what is served to them, touching the feet of the other sadhus each morning, keeping their distance from women and giving up family and career to be of service to God and Guru.”

PHOTO: Bodhinatha on the stage with BAPS sadhus and their Satguru, Prahmukhswami Maharaj,
during the July, 2005, opening of the amazing Houston temple
erected by the Swaminarayan Fellowship in Texas.

STORY CONTINUES:

Explaining the reasons of his closeness with BAPS, Satguru said, ” The most important similarity our two sangams share is having a living satguru and a tradition for perpetuating the guru lineage for future generations. Most Hindu organizations do not have such a tradition. In them either the founder who passed on some time ago is the only guru or the organization was formed in the first place without a guru.”

He further said, “Organizations that have a lineage of living satgurus are truly fortunate, for the divine blessings of a living satguru help us to make much greater spiritual progress in our lifetime than is otherwise possible. Of course, this acceleration of spiritual progress is not automatic–rather it happens because we are obedient. That is, we follow the general principles taught by the guru and, if we are fortunate enough, any personal advice the guru has given to us. Obedience is indeed the key.”

Delivering his keynote address on the subject- “The Importance of Obeying One’s Guru,” Satguru recollected the speech made at the 75th Jayanthi of His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj in Mumbai in 1995, in which he made the following key statement to the 30,000 gathered that evening: “I have three suggestions for all of you, the dedicated members of the Swaminarayan Fellowship. If you follow them, you will succeed. If you follow them, you will grow stronger as individuals. If you follow them, you will add your strength to that of all the others in the Fellowship. If you follow them, Hinduism itself will be made more noble and secure. So, what are my three points of advice tonight? Let’s take them one at a time. The first is to obey your guru. The second is obey your guru. The third is obey your guru. Do these three things and you will live a blessed life, and you will also make Pramukh Swami Maharaj very happy.”

In his concluding remarks, he said, “Having a living satguru provides the devotee with an opportunity to make significant spiritual progress in a single lifetime. However, as we previously mentioned, this progress is not automatic. It only occurs when the devotee is strictly obedient to the general rules of conduct of the lineage and follows carefully and fulfills in the right spirit all personal instruction received from the satguru.” Satguru once again received a thunderous applause from the most elite audience of Swaminarayan devotees, when he said , “How fortunate you all are in having a satguru such as Swamishri. [Pramukh Swami Ji Maharaj is popularly addressed as Swamishri and Bapa by his devotees].He attends to all the details of your life. He responds personally, in his own handwritten notes, to every letter and question you send to him. How rare a soul he is to love you so deeply. You can thank him in three ways: Obey your guru. Obey your guru. Obey your guru. “

Back at the Aadheenam, the Devado family went around and visited the different kulams. The return to Malaysia tomorrow. Here is Hiranya helping Sadhaka Dandapani do last minute recruiting of Innersearch participants…

With only 62 days left to go many are not wanting to miss the opportunity and are signing up now for this 2-week travel-study spiritual adventure in the south pacific. One of the highlights of this trip is spending 4-days with Bodhinatha in the heart of the mighty Southern Alps in New Zealand. The spectacular
surrounding beauty will be our backdrop during those magical moments of sitting before Bodhinatha in his classes.

So, don’t delay signing up if you are planning to go!

Visit our website
email danda@hindu.org or call 808-822-3012 ext 239 for more information.

Hiranya is fascinated with computers and it’s interesting to watch him… he will be on the internet playing an action game in less than a minute.

Balu and his wife Parimala have been a great help throughout the festival, ever present helping with decorations and doing the needful. Thank you!

The weather looked splendid at the Saiva Siddhanta Church of Mauritius Spiritual Park for a religious gathering. On October 31 in the evening, sishyas were gathered there to celebrate Gurudeva’s Mahasamadhi anniversary.

Nature’s beauty is at its peak. With summer coming, trees are in full bloom to welcome the Guru at the Park….

A small peedam was set up inside the Ganesha Mandapam, where were placed a large photo of Gurudeva and the Tiruvadi.

A humble group of sishyas attended the evening ceremony. Despite a cold sea breeze blowing outside the Mandapam, everyone could feel the spiritual warmth inside…

Sishyas sang Natchintanaii and other devotional songs on the Guru.

As Kulapati Siven Koothan, pointed out later in his welcome speech, many sishyas felt very blessed being present at that special ceremony on that day despite it being Deepavali eve…

Later the sishyas made very beautiful testimonies about how they met Gurudeva for the first time in their life ….

Everyone’s attention is on the pada puja…

The Tiruvadi decorated with beautiful flowers brought by devotees…

Everyone stood up for the final arati and sang the Guru Mantra.

Back at the Aadheenam… here is Bryce Harper, a free lance photographer, (you may see his work from time to time in the New York Times) is doing a photo story on the people of the island of Kauai.

He came up last week to photograph Bodhinatha and today returned to take a few more .

It turns out he uses the very same high end camera that we use… We borrowed his very special zoom
lens to take the following photos.